1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a two-stroke cycle engine which uses a layer of scavenging air pressurizing the crankcase. More specifically, it concerns a small two-stroke cycle engine using a preceding air-layer for scavenging, which drives a layer of scavenging air in advance of the fuel-air mixture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Two-stroke cycle engines belonging to the prior art take advantage of the fact that a negative pressure is created in the crankcase when the piston reaches the top of its stroke. This negative pressure causes the fuel-air mixture to be sucked into the crankcase. When the piston reaches the bottom of its stroke, the pressurized fuel-air mixture in the crankcase reaches the scavenging port and is conducted from the crankcase into the combustion chamber. The fuel-air mixture fills the combustion chamber, pushing the exhaust gases ahead of it. In this scavenging process, the opening duration of the scavenging port and the exhaust port experiences significant overlap, with the result that approximately 30% of the fuel-air mixture is sucked out with the exhaust gases. This is the primary cause of the large component of THC (total hydrocarbons) in the exhaust, and it results in the wastage of fuel.
To reduce the quantity of fuel-air mixture which is pushed out of the combustion chamber, scavenging air designs which drive a layer of air ahead of the fuel-air mixture have been proposed. In engines which use scavenging air, the fuel-air mixture goes into the crankcase as the piston travels upward in the intake process. At the same time, air is sucked into the crankcase through a scavenger passage connected to the scavenging port so that the passage is filled with air. In the combustion and exhaust processes which occur when the piston drops and the scavenging port is open, the air in the scavenger passage is forced into the combustion chamber ahead of the fuel-air mixture to scavenge the exhaust gases from the combustion. Immediately after the scavenging air, the fuel-air mixture is admitted into the combustion chamber. This scavenging-air method reduces the quantity of fuel-air mixture which is pushed out of the combustion chamber to one third that which occurred with prior art engines.
A design for a scavenging-air two-stroke cycle engine which forces a layer of air ahead of the fuel-air mixture, in which the fuel and air valves on the carburetor are realized as a single valve, is disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) 10-252565.
In the prior art scavenging-air engine which drives a layer of air ahead of the fuel-air mixture, the preceding layer of air admitted to the cylinder and crankcase through the air control valve was routed through the same number of passages (either two or three) as there were scavenging ports downstream from the air control valve. These were connected to the passages for the scavenging ports of the cylinders by rubber tubes. The air was fed through lead valves on the scavenger passages to passages on the cylinder and crankcase.
The air introduced via the air control valve was sucked into the crankcase temporarily when the cylinder of the piston was pressurized. When the piston dropped and scavenging occurred, the scavenging air was led into the combustion chamber from the scavenging port.
In another prior art design proposed in the Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) 7-139358, an air passage was provided which fed into the scavenger passage at a location adjacent to the scavenging port. A non-return valve was provided on the air passage, as was a control valve. The control valve was interlinked with the operation of the engine throttle. In this engine, the crankcase experienced negative pressure when the piston was up. At the same time that the fuel-air mixture was sucked into the crankcase through its supply port, the non-return valve was opened and the air was sucked in through the air passage. This air would completely or partially fill the scavenger passage. When the piston fell during the ignition and exhaust processes and the scavenging port was opened, first the air would rush into the combustion chamber and then the fuel-air mixture would be supplied.
With this prior art technique, a means was devised which would supply the air from the scavenging port to scavenge the combustion chamber quickly at the start of the scavenging process so as to minimize the quantity of fuel-air mixture lost through the exhaust port. This device admitted the fuel-air mixture from the crankcase into the combustion chamber via the scavenging port with a slight delay after the scavenging air was admitted.
This sort of two-stroke cycle engine which admitted a layer of air in front of the fuel-air mixture reduced the quantity of mixture exhausted with the combustion gases, prevented an excessive quantity of THC (total hydrocarbons) from being exhausted, and minimized the quantity of fuel wasted.
In the preceding air-layer type two-stroke cycle engine proposed in the Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) 10-252565, the preceding air was brought in through a number of rubber tubes with lead valves which was equal to the number of scavenging ports. The design thus required a large number of parts and assembly processes, both of which drove the cost up. Furthermore, the supply passages for the air were provided on the outside of the cylinder, so the dimensions of the engine in its axial direction were increased.
In a two-stroke cycle engine, combustion must be kept stable by supplying a rich mixture with little air when the engine is operating under a light load, including when it is idling, and a comparatively thin mixture when it is operating under a heavy load. This will reduce fuel consumption and decrease the harmful component of the exhaust gas. However, in the prior art design proposed in the Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) 7-139358, the airflow supplied via the supply passages during scavenging is not controlled to conform to the operating state of the engine.
Under light load conditions, then, such as when the engine is idling, too much air is supplied; and it would be difficult to stabilize combustion by limiting the quantity of air admitted to produce a rich mixture. Similarly, it would be difficult to maintain a thin mixture under heavy load conditions in order to reduce the pollutants in the exhaust gas and lower the fuel consumption.
In the invention disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) 9-125966, a mixture control valve is provided to open and close the mixture passage which connects the carburetor to the crankcase, and an air control valve is provided to open and close the air passage which connects the air cleaner. The mixture control valve and air control valve are linked so that it is possible to control the flow rate of the fuel-air mixture and that of the air in such a way that their ratio remains constant.
In this type of preceding air-layer type two-stroke cycle engine, when the engine is idling the negative pressure in the air passage increases until it is higher than that in the fuel mixture passage. This causes the throttle to open more, suddenly increasing the speed of the engine. The delay in the fuel supply allows the excessively rich fuel mixture to be thinned out by radically increasing the quantity of preceding air. The extra air reduces the concentration of the fuel mixture.
But when the engine is operating at high speed, an increase in the quantity of air will not be followed by an increased quantity of fuel. The concentration of the fuel will decrease and proper combustion will no longer be possible. Problems with acceleration or engine cut-off may result.
However, in the inventions disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publications 7-139358, 10-252565 and 9-125966, no means are provided to control the ratio of air flow to air-fuel mixture flow during normal operation so as to prevent an excessive quantity of air from being supplied when the engine suddenly accelerates as was described above.
Furthermore, when this sort of two-stroke cycle engine is used in a lawnmower, in many cases it must operate while mounted obliquely. When an obliquely mounted engine operates, fuel collects in the portion below the passage for the fuel-air mixture. When the position of the engine changes, this fuel is sucked in suddenly, resulting in combustion problems due to excess fuel in the engine.
However, the prior art techniques did not offer any method to counteract problems arising from the engine being operated while mounted obliquely.
Generally in two-stroke cycle engines, the passage for the scavenging air which leads into the chamber inside the crankcase follows a smooth curve inside the crankcase, goes through the surface where the crankcase is attached to the cylinder, and is connected to the scavenging port in the cylinder.
FIG. 39 shows an example of a scavenger passage in a two-stroke cycle engine belonging to the prior art. In this drawing, 1 is the engine, which is configured as follows.
2 is the cylinder; 5 is the crankcase. The cylinder 2 and crankcase 5 are fixed to each other with gasket 3 between them by bolts 110 at surfaces 04 and 05. 6 is the crankshaft, 7 is the cylinder head, 10 is the air passage and 60 is the center of the crankshaft.
9 is the scavenging port, which opens into the side of the cylinder 2. 109a is the scavenger passage formed in the cylinder 2, which connects to the scavenging port 9. 109c is the inlet for the scavenger passage formed in the crankcase 5, which opens into the crank chamber. 109b is the scavenger passage in the crankcase 5. It follows a smooth curve inside the crankcase 5 and connects scavenger passage 109a in the cylinder 2 with scavenging inlet 109c.
In this two-stroke cycle engine, the scavenger passage comprises passage 109b in crankcase 5 and 109a in cylinder 2, which meet at the surfaces 04 and 05. Because scavenger passage 109b in crankcase 5 is curved, it has a portion 16 which protrudes between the upper wall of the passage 109b and surface 04.
In the Japanese Patent Publications 58-5423 and 58-5424, scavenger passages are disclosed such that a curved scavenger passage in the crankcase and a scavenger passage in the cylinder come together at the surface where the crankcase and the cylinder are fixed to each other.
However, in the configuration of the scavenger passage in the two-stroke cycle engine shown in FIG. 39, scavenger passage 109b in crankcase 5 is a curved passage with a portion 16 which protrudes between the upper wall of the passage 109b and surface 04. When the crankcase is cast, the die to form scavenger passage 109b in crankcase 5 cannot be removed as a single die in the direction of axis 61 of the cylinder.
With the prior art design shown in FIG. 39, then, to enable the die for scavenger passage 109b to be removed, several different dies were combined to cast the scavenger passage. This complicated the casting work and increased the number of casting processes. Also, because it required combining a number of dies, the probability of a defective cast due to slippage of a die increased.
In the Japanese Patent Publications (Kokai) 58-5423 and 58-5424, too, a protruding portion is formed between the upper wall of the scavenger passage and the surface where the cylinder is fixed to the crankcase. These designs, then, suffer from the same problems as were just described.
Further, with the prior art design shown in FIG. 39, the curved scavenger passage in the crankcase and the scavenger passage in the cylinder meet to form a scavenger passage which goes through the surface where the crankcase and the cylinder are fixed to each other. The fuel in the fuel-air mixture which flows through the scavenger passage will thus seep into the microscopic gap between surfaces 04 and 05 where gasket 3 is inserted. When the engine is operated in an oblique position, this fuel will return to the scavenger passage and result in defective combustion.
In the Japanese Patent Publications (Kokai) 58-5423 and 58-5424, too, a scavenger passage in the crankcase and a scavenger passage in the cylinder meet to form a common passage which goes through the surface where the crankcase and the cylinder are fixed together. These designs thus suffer from the same problem which is described above.
In a two-stroke cycle engine with a pressurized crankcase, the design takes advantage of the fact that a negative pressure is created in the crankcase when the piston reaches the top of its stroke. The fuel-air mixture is sucked into the crankcase through the air inlet. When the piston reaches the bottom of its stroke, the scavenging port opens and the pressurized fuel-air mixture in the crankcase is conducted from the crankcase into the combustion chamber via the scavenger passage and the scavenging port. The fuel-air mixture fills the combustion chamber, pushing the exhaust gases ahead of it.
In the scavenging process in a two-stroke cycle engine, the opening duration of the scavenging port and the exhaust port experiences significant overlap. To address this problem, a number of devices have been proposed to prevent the fuel-air mixture from being sucked out with the combustion gases and to insure that the mixture fills the combustion chamber uniformly.
One such device is proposed in the Japanese Utility Model Publication (Kokai) 1-44740. In this proposal, a two-stroke cycle engine has two scavenger passages, one on the right and one on the left, which lead up from the crankcase. Their upper ends curve toward the axial direction of the cylinder, and they lead into the cylinder. The angles at which the surfaces of the upper walls of the curving scavenger passages meet the cylinder vary continuously from one side to the other.
In this sort of scavenging two-stroke cycle engine with a pressurized crankcase, it is necessary to reduce the quantity of fuel-air mixture which escapes with the exhaust gases, eliminate the exhaust of a large quantity of THC (total hydrocarbons) and minimize the wastage of fuel.
In the scavenging two-stroke cycle engine with a pressurized crankcase proposed in the Japanese Utility Model Publication (Kokai) 1-44740, the angles at which the surfaces of the upper walls of the tops of the scavenger passages meet the cylinder, that is, the angles at which the air is blown into the cylinder, do vary continuously from one side of the scavenging port to the other. However, as can be seen in FIG. 3 of the same publication, the angles .theta. of the airflow differ from each other. The portion (.theta.a) nearer the exhaust port, which is shown in FIG. 3(a) is larger than the portion (.theta.c) nearer the intake port, which is shown in FIG. 3(c).
Thus in the prior art design proposed in the Japanese Utility Model Publication (Kokai) 1-44740, the angle .theta. of the airflow in the location closer to the exhaust port is made larger. As a result, after the fuel-air mixture forced into the combustion chamber from the portion of the scavenger passage closer to the exhaust port reaches the top of the combustion chamber, it is liable to be caught in the flow of combustion gases travelling toward the exhaust port. The fuel-air mixture supplied from the location closer to the exhaust port, then, is likely to escape out the exhaust port with the combustion gases which comprise the exhaust gas. This will increase the quantity of the THC (total hydrocarbons) which are exhausted and the quantity of fuel which is wasted. The scavenging efficiency will decrease, the density of the fuel-air mixture filling the combustion chamber will be lower, and the engine output will go down.
In a two-stroke cycle engine which is used in a lawnmower, the long scavenger passage which connects the scavenging port to the crankcase and supplies the air-fuel mixture from the crankcase to the combustion chamber must be formed in both the crankcase and the cylinder. The crankcase and cylinder, which are generally made of cast aluminum, must assume a complicated shape, so that their casting requires many processes.
Two-stroke cycle engines for universal applications have been proposed in the Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) 58-5424 and the Japanese Utility Model Publication (Kokai) 4-26657, among others.
In the Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) 58-5424, the crankcase has both a primary and an auxiliary scavenging port. The two scavenger passages which lead into the interior of the crankcase, i.e., into the crank chamber, go from the interior of the crankcase through the surface where the crankcase and the cylinder are fixed together. In the cylinder, these two scavenger passages connect to the primary and auxiliary scavenging ports.
In the Japanese Utility Model Publication (Kokai) 4-26657, two pairs of curved scavenger passages go from the interior of the crankcase through the surface where the crankcase and the cylinder are fixed together and then through the interior of the cylinder.
As has been discussed, this is an air-layer type scavenging two-stroke cycle engine. In it, a long scavenger passage which connects the scavenging port and the crankcase is formed in the interior portions of the crankcase and the cylinder. In addition, an air passage is formed in the cylinder to transport the preceding air to the scavenging port. This air passage connects to some intermediate location on the scavenger passage. The crankcase and cylinder, which are generally made of cast aluminum, must be shaped in such a way that the scavenger passage forms a smooth channel in order to minimize the resistance experienced by the fuel-air mixture and the airflow. The shapes of the dies for the casting must be simple, the number of dies must be small, and the engine must be able to be produced in a small number of production processes.
In the design in the Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) 58-5424, however, the inventors limited their improvement to giving the two long primary and auxiliary scavenger passages in the crankcase and cylinder a smooth contour and so reducing the resistance of the two channels. They did not devote any attention to improving the shape or number of dies used when the crankcase and cylinder were cast or to improving the casting work by reducing the number of casting processes required.
In the design proposed in the Japanese Utility Model Publication (Kokai) 4-26657, the inventors limited their improvement to providing a shape for a curved scavenger passage running from the interior of the crankcase through the interior of the cylinder and preventing the fuel-air mixture from escaping toward the exhaust side. In this prior art design, then, just as with that discussed above, no consideration was given to the casting of the crankcase and cylinder.
In a two-stroke cycle scavenging engine using a layer of air, there is a scavenger passage which connects the scavenging port on the side of the cylinder and the crankcase; an air passage which connects to the scavenger passage at a point midway along its length and supplies scavenging air from the air cleaner to the scavenger passage; and a passage which supplies the fuel-air mixture produced in the carburetor to the crankcase. Before the fuel-air mixture is supplied from the scavenging port to the combustion chamber, a mass of preceding air filtered by the air cleaner is conducted into the combustion chamber by way of the air passage, scavenger passage and scavenging port. This air scavenges the chamber, enhancing both the scavenging and the combustion efficiency.
Two inventions which have proposed such two-stroke cycle scavenging engines which use a layer of air are those disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publications (Kokai) 9-125966 and 10-252565.
In the invention disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) 9-125966, there are two air cleaners. The outlet of one of the air cleaners connects via the carburetor to the supply passage for the fuel-air mixture. The outlet of the other air cleaner connects through a control valve to the passage which supplies the preceding air to the scavenger passage.
In the invention disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) 10-252565, the passage which supplies the fuel-air mixture from the carburetor to the crankcase is parallel to the passage which supplies the preceding air to the scavenger passage. The air inlet of the carburetor and the inlet of the air supply passage are connected directly to the outlet of the air cleaner.
When this air layer-type scavenging two-stroke cycle engine is started up, the quantity of air which is to go through the air supply passage must be controlled and a negative pressure must be obtained. The quantity of fuel-air mixture supplied to the combustion chamber from the air mixture supply passage by way of the crankcase and scavenger passage must be increased to produce a rich mixture and so improve the starting characteristics of the engine.
In the invention proposed in the Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) 9-125966, the air control valve is shut during start-up, so the air supply passage is closed. The air passage on the carburetor is open, and the fuel-air mixture supplied from the carburetor to the air mixture supply passage is increased to produce a rich mixture. However, this design requires two air cleaners, so the configuration is complicated and large, which drives up the equipment cost.
In the invention proposed in the Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) 10-252565, the air inlet of the carburetor and the inlet of the air supply passage are connected directly to the outlet of the air cleaner. For this reason it would be extremely difficult to completely shut off the preceding air, that is, the air which flows into the air supply passage, at the outlet stage of the air cleaner during start-up.
It is thus impossible, in this invention, to supply a rich mixture to the combustion chamber. And since it is difficult to achieve a high negative pressure as well, the start-up characteristics are unavoidably poor.
Furthermore, in the two prior art designs discussed above, the choke valve which closes off the air passage when the engine is started up is generally a rocking choke valve which rotates about its valve shaft. When the engine is connected to a lawnmower or other working machine and is to be operated, the operating lever of the choke valve gets in the way when the engine is started with the recoil starter. Also, the rocking diameter of the operating lever is considerable, which makes it difficult to operate and so affects the ease of operation.